


like a bird loves to fly

by TobyAddison



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, M/M, steve and sam get a dog, the boys have crushes on each other and are dumb about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3934741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TobyAddison/pseuds/TobyAddison
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve doesn’t say anything else regarding what he’s staring at, Sam finally turns to look himself. Then he laughs. “Seriously, Rogers?” he asks once he’s caught his breath again. “You’ve actually slowed down – which I’ve never seen you do when you’re running – because of some dogs?” For over on the other side of the park is some random-ass dog walker with at least half a dozen dogs of varying sizes in front of them. Even out of the corner of his eye, Sam can see Steve blushing.</p><p>“I just – I like dogs, okay?”</p><p>Steve laughs again. “Yeah. No shit.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	like a bird loves to fly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roane/gifts).



> My fic for the Sam/Steve exchange on Tumblr! Or at least the first chapter of it, since I am a failure but also a high school student with AP exams.
> 
> The likes/dislikes from roane were these "I love humor and domesticity with these two. Maybe Sam meeting "the family" (i.e., the Avengers) or Steve meeting Sam's family. I cn be happy with anything from "Sam and Steve get a dog" to "Sam and Steve are busy wiping out HYDRA together"." So I went with the "Sam and Steve get a dog" part.
> 
> This will be at least two parts, maybe more depending on what I do.
> 
> Title is from the poem "Love That Dog" by Sharon Creech which is a rewritten version of the first stanza of "Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Meyers and she uses it in her novel _Love That Dog_. Unbeta'd and also typed up from my handwritten copy, so there are probably errors that I will eventually maybe find and fix.

It’s during his morning run with Steve – son of a bitch still calls out “on your left” every time he passes – that Sam finally figures out what he’s getting Captain America for his birthday.\

Since Steve is always ready to head out the door at ass o’clock in the morning, they almost never see anyone else except the occasional homeless person asleep on a bench, but today is one of the rare exceptions. Just as Sam finishes his third lap and Steve is probably on his thirtieth, Sam sees out of the corner of his eye some unexpected movement. He chooses to ignore it – it’s almost definitely just someone out for an early morning stroll – until Steve abruptly slows down to jog at Sam’s side, his eyes trained on the figure across the park.

Without breaking his stride, Sam says, “What, is there some cute girl over there you’re checking out?” Steve only hums a response that Sam interprets as a negative, so he adds, “A cute guy, then?”

Steve’s gaze jerks over to Sam for a moment before returning to whatever it is that’s got his attention. “Oh – ah, no. No,” he stutters out. Although, to the media, Captain America is a wholesome virgin as well as one hundred-percent heterosexual, Steve had come out as bi to the team a few months ago, and Sam is pretty sure from the very occasional suspicious noises he hears from Sam’s apartment that the man isn’t a virgin, either.

When Steve doesn’t say anything else regarding what he’s staring at, Sam finally turns to look himself. Then he laughs. “Seriously, Rogers?” he asks once he’s caught his breath again. “You’ve actually slowed down – which I’ve never seen you do when you’re running – because of some dogs?” For over on the other side of the park is some random-ass dog walker with at least half a dozen dogs of varying sizes in front of them. Even out of the corner of his eye, Sam can see Steve blushing.

“I just – I like dogs, okay?”

Steve laughs again. “Yeah. No shit.”

Twenty minutes later, they’re cooling down from their run, the dog walker is out of sight, and Sam has a chance to ask the question he’s been thinking about since he realized what had caught Steve’s attention. “Why don’t you get your own dog?” he says casually while finishing up his stretches. “I mean, we’ve got Bucky back, you’re in New York pretty much full-time, your apartment’s plenty big enough…”

Steve shrugs, and Sam takes a moment to admire the elegant roll of muscles across his friend’s back. Totally platonic admiration, of course. “I dunno,” Steve says. “Now, yeah, I’d definitely have the time for one, I think, but before I wouldn’t have, and things only just started settling down, so… yeah.” He’s facing Sam now, so Sam gets less of a show when Steve shrugs again. “Guess I hadn’t really thought about it until you mentioned it.”

Pulling himself to his feet – without Steve’s help, thank you very much – Sam comes to a decision. “Okay,” he says. “We’re going to go back to our apartments and clean up, and then I’m taking you to get your birthday present.” 

* * *

 

Steve’s birthday isn’t actually until that weekend, so he’s not really sure why Sam is taking him out to get something now. Or why Sam is getting him anything to begin with. Steve knows he can’t stop Tony from throwing an outrageous party – even if it is under the guise of an “Independence Day Celebration” – but he has purposefully avoided all questions about what kind of gifts he wants. He appreciates it, but his birthday celebrations back in the day were meager at best and nonexistent at worst, so everything about it now just feels awkward.

Still, he’s letting Sam drag him across the city on June 30th for God knows what he’s planning, and Steve can’t bring himself to be too bothered by it. Steve thinks – no, he knows – that it has more to do with the fact that it’s Sam than anything else. If it was a different person, Steve would’ve been grateful, sure, but there’s something else about Sam, something that Steve is fully aware of but has been doing his best to ignore. Just because Sam is gay doesn’t mean he’s interested in me, he repeats to himself and pointedly ignores all of Natasha’s suggestions otherwise.

Anyways.

So Steve is following Sam to wherever they’re going only because Sam’s his friend and for no other reason. He’s so focused on reminding himself of this that he almost doesn’t notice when Sam stops in front of him, only just managing to avoid running into him. Once he realizes they’ve reach their destination, Steve looks up to discover they’re at… the Manhattan Animal Shelter.

Now that he thinks about it, he really should’ve seen this coming. Actually, Steve’s pretty surprised he didn’t realize what was going on, seeing as how Sam’s declaration about his birthday present had come directly after a discussion about dogs.

“Hey, are you coming or not?”

Sam’s voice cuts through his musings, and Steve realizes he’s been standing out on the sidewalk for a good couple of minutes. He nods jerkily and follows Sam into the building, realizing belatedly that he should probably wipe the look of shock from his face.

Once they’re inside, Sam claps a hand to Steve’s shoulder, leaning in close as he does so. Steve resolutely doesn’t react to their proximity. “Hey,” Sam says softly, his voice pitched low. “It’s okay if you don’t want to do this. We can just go in, play with some dogs, and leave if you want.”

Steve finally manages to school his expression. “No, it’s okay,” he says. “I mean, it’s great. I was just surprised.” Sam still looks hesitant, so Steve flashes him the best grin he can. “Seriously. This is great. Let’s go get me a dog.”

* * *

 

Even though at first Sam had been worried he’d made the wrong decision, he thinks Steve looks pretty happy surrounded by rows and rows of dogs, most of them barking their heads off. Sam had assumed Steve would be drawn to the bigger breeds since they seem to match his personality and his image, but most of the dogs Steve has shown any interest in have been around terrier-sized. Finally Steve comes to a stop in front of one of the cages, and Sam draws closer to see what he’s looking at.

Inside the pen that can’t be larger than three feet wide and three feet deep is probably the smallest pit bull Sam has ever seen. The information card on the front of the cage says the dog is a girl named Daisy and she weighs twenty pounds. Sam can see why she caught Steve’s attention; unlike the other dogs there, who are either jumping up at their gates or cowering back in corners, Daisy is lying smack in the middle of her enclosure, staring up at Steve with the saddest and bluest eyes a dog can have.

Seeing that they’ve stopped, a shelter volunteer hurries over with a leash in her hand. “Would you like to see this dog?” she asks, a nervous tremor in her voice. “We have rooms in the back where you can interact with her if you want.”

“Um… sure,” Steve says after a moment. Squeezing through the space between Sam and Steve, the volunteer opens up the enclosure and clips the leash onto the dog’s collar and then leads them and the dog further back into the building.

After the volunteer – her nametag reads Sandra – leaves them alone with the dog in a glass-walled room, Sam stands off to the side, watching as Daisy tentatively approaches Steve. She sniffs hesitantly at Steve’s outstretched fingers, apparently judging him as trustworthy when she moves her head under his hand. Steve starts petting her gently, and as Sam watches Daisy inches closer to the blond man’s legs.

“I think she likes you,” Sam says, and Steve jerks up like he forgot there was someone else in the room. Sam chuckles. “What do you think, Rogers? Is she the one?” By this point, Daisy has all but crawled into Steve’s lap with how close she is to him, so Sam thinks he has his answer.


End file.
